Quotes from Mario Puzo

Always remember that and live your life not to be a hero but to remain alive. With time, heroes seem a little foolish.

Michael looked around the beautiful garden with its many colored flowers, fragrant lemon trees, the old statures of the gods dug from ancient ruins, other newer ones of holy saints, the rose-colored walls across the villa. It was a lovely setting for the examination of twelve murderous apostles.

Early on he had been told the famous maxim of American justice, that it was better that a hundred men go free than that one innocent man be punished. Struck almost dumb by the beauty of the concept, he became an ardent patriot. America was his country. He would never leave America.

If the Clericuzio Family was the Holy Church for the Mafia empires scattered over the United States, then the head of the Family, Don Domenico Clericuzio was the Pope, admired not only for his intelligence but for his strength.

Preparing the communal evening meal sometimes caused arguments. Every village in Sicily had a different recipe for squid and eels, disagreed on what herbs should be disbarred from the tomato sauce. And whether sausages should ever be baked.

For the Sicilian believes that vengeance is the only true justice, and that it is always merciless.

It was understood, it was mere good manners, to proclaim that you were in his debt and that he had the right to call upon you at any time to redeem your debt by some small service. Now

The Don considered a use of threats the most foolish kind of exposure; the unleashing of anger without forethought as the most dangerous indulgence.

he had been a tough teenager in New York's Hell's Kitchen.

No profieras amenaza alguna. Razona con la gente.» El arte del razonamiento consistía en desoír todos los insultos, todas las amenazas; algo así como poner la otra mejilla.

Let me go further. If my son is struck by a bolt of lightning I will blame some of the people here.

The Don sighed. "Well, then I can't talk to you about how you should behave. Don't you want to finish school, don't you want to be a lawyer? Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks.

With a great effort the Don opened his eyes to see his son once more. ... He smelled the garden, the yellow shield of light smote his eyes, and he whispered, Life is so beautiful. ... Yet, he thought, if I can die saying, Life is so beautiful, then nothing else is important. If I can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.

men in general sooner forget the lost their matrimony than the death of their father

V?riešiem sekss vajadz?gs, lai sagatavotos doties kauj? ar pašapzi?u. Sieviet?m sekss vajadz?gs zaud?juma b?du remd?šanai vai k? da?a no uzvaras gandar?juma.

Macht ist nur die leere Erhöhung des eigenen Willens über den Willen anderer.

Santino, never let anyone outside the Family know what you are thinking. Never let them know what you have under your fingernails.

have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a bloc of people to vote for them.

A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.

A belief in one's own virtue is far more dangerous than a belief in one's cunning.

Once anybody makes up their mind to kill then there's no other problem. That's the hard part, making up your mind.

He had asked Hagen one final question. Does this man have real balls? Hagen translated the question properly in his mind. Did Jack Woltz have the balls to risk everything, to run the chance of losing all on a matter of principle, on a matter of honor; for revenge?

I asked god for a bike, but i know god doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

the Don never held a grudge that impaired his future profits.